Schoolgirl Crushes
by ncfan
Summary: Is she too timid to say anything or is she just a masochist? Rukia observes Orihime and others.


**Characters**: Rukia, Orihime, mentions of Ichigo and Ishida**  
Summary**: Is she too timid to say anything or is she just a masochist? Rukia observes Orihime and others.**  
Pairings**: onesided IchiHime, onesided IshiHime, onesided KaienRuki, implied onesided IchiRuki**  
Warnings/Spoilers**: None**  
Timeline**: None**  
Author's Note**: Because you know Rukia will be thinking this at some point, if she hasn't already.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Bleach.

* * *

Rukia is getting sick and tired of all the anguished, indecisive romance going around. Is it something in the air? Rukia wouldn't be surprised if love turned out to be an airborne pathogen, infecting everyone who comes into contact with it.

Being much older than the people she associates with helps with seeing through some of the more inexplicable behavior exhibited by her friends, and Rukia is observant and perceptive by nature, so she can generally tell when someone has a crush on another person. Orihime's feelings for Ichigo are obvious, blatant, and not at all subtle; Rukia notices it the first time she meets the girl. Ishida's picked up on it too, which Rukia suspects is part of _his_ problem regarding his female classmate. He's incredibly transparent.

_Rukia snorts. "You idiot. You are over the moon for this girl; if you like her, why not tell her instead of staring at her all day?"_

_To say the gaping look Ishida is shooting at her is dumfounded and mortified would be an understatement._

But enough of that. Ishida is slightly more subtle than Orihime and _Ishida_ doesn't engage in openly self-destructive behavior over his feelings for his friends. At least Rukia can trust _one_ of them to be a little sensible about the situation they find themselves in.

Orihime confounds Rukia, leaves her shaking her head in utter amazement. Rukia can see it so clearly. Orihime is transparent as rain, but thinks herself as opaque as mud; Rukia can only imagine the way the red-haired girl would react if she knew just how easy to read she was. Her feelings for Ichigo are like handwriting on her face, written in bold, clearly defined print. Impossible to miss or ignore.

It's either a schoolgirl crush or love. Possibly both; Rukia's good, but she's not good enough that she can always discern the difference. Either way, it's hopeless and Orihime is as head over heels for Kurosaki Ichigo as Ishida is for her, and God only knows where it even began. If Rukia figures _that _out, she figures she'll suddenly find herself omniscient and know everything.

It's completely, utterly ridiculous, and kind of sad too.

Scratch that. Not "kind of sad", just "really, really sad", and not in the "pathetic sad" way but rather in the "melancholy-inducing sad" way.

Because Rukia, cynic that she is, still likes to see the people she loves happy, and she doesn't see how that's going to happen for Orihime.

For one thing, Ichigo, poor, lovable but utterly _ignorant _and _oblivious_ Ichigo, is completely blind to and has not a clue of what's going on around him. What an idiot. What a fool. What a blind, ignorant fool. He wouldn't know that a girl was infatuated with him if she came up, stripped naked and confessed like that right in front of him (And Rukia rolls her eyes, because Kaien was the same way). It causes Orihime no end of anguish, Ishida no end of frustration (because Rukia's not the only one who wants to see this end with Orihime happy, even if it means that he gets cheated out of happiness in the end), and gives Rukia no end of grief at times. Her cheeks tinge pink to think of it, but she clamps her mouth shut and says not a word. She has too much stubbornness and, damn it, too much pride to go to him instead of waiting for him to come to her. Even if he himself may never come.

For Orihime, shyness is completely, utterly crippling, wounding her and inhibiting her with every step she takes. It's almost impossible to look at someone like Orihime, someone who seems so outgoing and is imbued with a pure, light sweetness of spirit, and see her as a shy person, but Rukia knows she is, at least as far as Ichigo is concerned.

For whatever reason, Orihime is overcome by her hampering insecurities. Becomes tongue-tied in Ichigo's presence, can't meet his eyes, blushes carmine and rust red, stutters, clearly wants desperately to say what she so needs to say, but can't quite work up the courage. Rukia doesn't know whether to be distressed by this behavior or sickened by it.

Does she enjoy this pain? Does Orihime take pleasure in twisting her own insides and destroying her own courage, and holding herself in the grip of Purgatory for another day when she simply doesn't work up the nerve to walk up to Ichigo and tell him, point blank, how she feels? Rukia hopes not. She knows few true masochists, people who take pleasure out of their own physical or emotional pain, and Orihime doesn't strike her as the sort to be one of these. She takes too much joy out of life to ignore it in favor of pain.

None of this theorizing on Orihime matters in the end. It's all conjecture; a mixture of what Rukia suspects of her and what Rukia knows to be true. Rukia takes her observations of Orihime, mashes them all together and comes to these conclusions as a result. Her deep, sinking suspicions all come to one conclusion: that it's all completely, terribly true. If so, they've all got their work cut for them, if they want to extinguish their pain.

And Rukia will help Orihime, any way she can, any way she possibly can, because Orihime's her friend and Rukia wants to see her happy.

Rukia will help Orihime because Orihime, of everyone Rukia has ever met, deserves to be happy.

Rukia will help Orihime, even if it ends up hurting herself in the end.


End file.
